CCAT spatial reasoning · 6 worked questions · 5 question types
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This page is about the Criteria Cognitive Aptitude Test (CCAT), the hiring test, not the Canadian school test with the same initials. Spatial questions show you shapes or grids and ask what comes next, which one is turned or flipped, or which one does not belong. People who say they are "not visual" often do fine here once they stop looking at the whole picture and start tracking one part of it. For all four domains on one page, see CCAT practice questions.
In our simulator's mix, spatial reasoning is 10 of the 50 questions. That is our mix, not a published Criteria number. Our bank has five spatial types: Mental rotation, Mirror images, Visual sequences, Pattern matrices, and Spatial odd one out.
The examples on this page use 3 by 3 tiles: a small grid where some cells are filled. Tiles make the rule easy to check, because you can count cells. CCAT-style tests also use drawn shapes, and the same methods carry over: find one feature, follow it, then confirm.
Two things are not here. Exact matching, comparing two columns of text, is a reading task, so it is on CCAT verbal questions. Number series are on the math page, and letter series are on the logic page.
At 18 seconds a question, 10 spatial questions is 3 minutes on average. Spatial questions are the ones where people stare. A rotation should take you under 15 seconds if you track a corner. A matrix with an unfamiliar rule can take 40. If you have not found the rule after checking one complete row, guess and move on.
Each one is from our practice bank. Answer first, then open the solution.
Which tile shows the original rotated 180° clockwise? Do not flip it.
Answer: E
Turn the whole tile 180° clockwise. Every filled cell follows the same rotation; a mirror image is not equivalent.
Track one distinctive corner through the turn.
Fast route. Pick one distinctive filled cell, like a corner. A 180° turn sends the top-left corner to the bottom-right. Find the option where that cell landed, then check one more.
Trap. The mirror image. A flip and a turn can look alike at a glance. If the shape could only get there by being flipped, it is wrong.
Which tile is the reflection of the original across a horizontal mirror line?
Answer: E
A horizontal mirror swaps top and bottom; the left and right stay in place.
A vertical mirror swaps left and right; a horizontal mirror swaps top and bottom.
Fast route. Know which way the mirror swaps. A horizontal mirror line swaps top and bottom; left and right stay put. So the top row and bottom row trade places and the middle row stays.
Trap. Doing the other flip. Under time, people swap left and right when the question asked for top and bottom.
Which tile comes next in the sequence?
Answer: E
Each step rotates 90° clockwise and swaps filled and empty cells. Apply both changes, not just one.
Track one changing feature at a time; check alternating positions.
Fast route. Change one thing at a time. Here each step turns the tile 90° clockwise and swaps filled and empty cells. Apply both to the last tile.
Trap. Applying only one change. An option that is turned correctly but not inverted is there to catch you.
Which tile completes the matrix? Use the same left-to-right combination rule in every row.
Answer: C
In each row, the third tile contains every cell filled in either of the first two tiles (their union).
Compare occupied cells in a completed row, then verify the rule in another row.
Fast route. Read a complete row. If the third tile has every cell that is filled in either of the first two, that is the rule. Apply it to the last row.
Trap. Checking only one row. Confirm the rule in a second row before you commit; two rules can fit one row.
Which tile completes the matrix? Use the same left-to-right combination rule in every row.
Answer: E
In each row, the third tile keeps cells filled in exactly one of the first two tiles. Cells filled in both disappear.
Compare occupied cells in a completed row, then verify the rule in another row.
Fast route. Same method, different rule. Here the third tile keeps cells filled in exactly one of the first two. Cells filled in both disappear.
Trap. Assuming the rule from the last matrix you saw. Union and exclusive or look alike until you check an overlapping cell.
Which option does NOT belong? Compare left–right symmetry.
Answer: D
Four tiles have vertical (left–right) mirror symmetry. The odd tile does not.
Compare one property across all options before switching to another.
Fast route. Compare one property across all five before you switch. The question names it: left to right symmetry. Fold each tile down the middle in your head. Four match their own mirror image. One does not.
Trap. Switching properties halfway. If you check symmetry on three tiles and cell count on two, you will find two "odd" ones.
Spatial reasoning responds well to practice, because most of it is method. Drill each type until "track one corner" is automatic. Then practice a few with a stopwatch to feel where 18 seconds runs out.
After that, put spatial questions in a full CCAT practice test. Spatial questions often feel different after several minutes of words and numbers. Your one free session can be a full test: see the free CCAT practice test. The coach's debrief afterwards tells you whether spatial cost you points or just time.
See CCAT math questions, CCAT verbal questions and CCAT logic questions.
Shape and grid questions: which figure is a rotation or a mirror image, what comes next in a visual sequence, which tile completes a pattern matrix, and which shape does not belong.
Criteria does not publish a count per domain. Our simulator uses 10 spatial questions out of 50, which is our own mix.
Track one distinctive corner through the turn instead of turning the whole shape in your head, then check one more cell.
A rotation turns the shape without flipping it. A mirror image flips it across a line. A shape with no mirror symmetry and its mirror image can never be rotated into each other.
They overlap. Abstract reasoning tests often use the same sequences and matrices. The methods on this page apply to both.
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